Who’s setting the media agenda?

It’s a question that seems to become more pertinent by the day: is the blog sphere now setting the media agenda or is it just reacting to the stories of the mainstream media?

This week we have seen a good example that could be used to make either point. The hysteria induced by Jonathan Ross and Russel Brand’s calls to Andrew Sachs would, on the surface, appear to be a case of public outcry fuelled by YouTube. Real grass roots indignation that sent complaints at the BBC to record numbers. That is until you remember that this was prompted by, the guardian of all our moral fibres, The Daily Mail.

Before we get any further into this I should add that my position is one of total ambivalence. I fail to see how this is offensive to anyone other than Andrew Sachs, who has to date accepted the unqualified apology given and even gone as far as to say he understands the that performances sometimes go wrong.

A quick cruise around the blogsphere reveals quite a similar story. Many seem non-pulsed by all the fuss. Even the BBC’s own feedback ghetto is more balanced than most of the media coverage. Presumably the multitude that wrote complaints do not write blogs.

It seems odd given the extraordinary amount of coverage this has generated (I’ve seen BBC Director General Mark Thompson on TV twice this week, having returned early from holiday) that this view does not seem to have gained more prominence. Instead the papers have firmly set this agenda of going for Aunty’s jugular. Yet curiously the voice of the bloggers seems to be ignored.

Perhaps the most telling thing is how this demonstrates big media’s desire to pick and choose its areas for interaction with its audience. Along with its refusal to give up the reigns of agenda setting. On this occasion it seems that a witch-hunt led by the newspapers has won out over a much more balanced view from people’s couches.